Blog: Ideas and Living

There’s a misinterpretation of what she meant by selfishness. The classic way they get it wrong is simply believing that Ayn Rand says do whatever you feel like doing, don’t care about other people, just do whatever is good for you. And there’s no delving into what she means by “good for you.” Being selfish is really hard work. It means really thinking about “what are my #values, what are the most important things to me, how do I rank them, and how do I actually pursue them in a #rational, productive way?” Ayn Rand’s philosophy is very challenging.

Indeed... most people associate "selfishness" with short-ranged do what you want. But when you combine the question of "what is good for me" with the longest range possible, you're talking about a completely different outcome than whatever people imagine when they hear the word "selfishness".

Perhaps that makes it the wrong word for situations where nuance is in short supply (e.g. social media)?